The $5,400 Handshake
A state land commissioner faces a Supreme Court battle over whether he can bypass a high-dollar bid for school lands in favor of a personal deal.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
State Land Commissioner E. W. Ross is a party to a bitterly contested case now pending in the supreme court of this state which involves an important question concerning state school lands. For a five-year lease upon a piece of school land upon which no lease has yet been signed or issued, the state land commissioner has two bids: one for $600, a price agreed upon with the commissioner, and the other for $6,000, submitted before the deal had been closed. He insists upon accepting the smaller bid and has been temporarily enjoined. The defense presented to the supreme court is that the matter is one solely between the state and the chosen bidder, and that the larger bidder has no legal rights. The larger bidder maintains that the commissioner’s discretion must be exercised by the same rules of competition required of a trustee or receiver. If the commissioner is correct in his right to lease school lands in private, it could result in an immense annual loss to the school fund.
“Of course, if the commissioner is right and he has a right to thus let the school lands in private and without competition, it could result in an immense loss annually to the school fund.”
This 1905 clash over the fiduciary responsibility of public officials managing school lands mirrors ongoing debates in Washington regarding the management of public trust lands and the influence of private interests on state asset auctions. The conflict highlights a recurring tension in our state’s history between 'back-room' executive discretion and the demand for open, competitive public oversight.
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